Red Lines
by watergurl123
Summary: Rory agrees to take a ride with Jess, opening the way to some very overdue conversation. Last Week Fights, This Week Tights. Jess takes a much calmer approach to his and Rory's meeting at Yale. Literati. Multi-chapter.
1. Chapter 1

**Another new story. Classic remake of 'Last Week Fights, This Week Tights'. Had the idea rolling around for a while. Anyway, not much else to say, so please, please, please (begging you) review! And thank you so much for reading!**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls.

**Chapter: 1**

She couldn't believe this. How could he be here _now_? How did he even know which dorm was hers? _It's not like he'd stuck around long enough to find out._ She stared at him with a sneer, demanding an explanation for his rather unwelcome presence.

He looked more than a little nervous as he advanced down the hall, gesturing with his arms and staring at the floor. "I don't know. I just wanted to see you, talk to you. I just…" He managed to stutter out, his much longer hair falling across his forehead. His face was a series of lines, darting across his forehead and cheeks, transforming his skin into a portrait of distress. They deepened as he lifted his eyes toward her, partially opening his mouth and furrowing his brows.

"What?" She demanded, her voice heavy with bitter memories.

"Come with me." He blurted with a strained voice.

"What?" She repeated in a much different tone, her eyes narrowing in disbelief.

"Come with me." He took a step forward her. His eyes looked frantic, unusually dark and wide.

"Where?" Her voice held something in it that frightened her. It almost sounded…curious. She did _not_ want to be curious. She wanted to use her pain as a justification for her anger, something she'd gotten awfully good at with each new 'Jess' encounter. Curiosity sparked interest, interest sparked friendship, friendship accompanied attraction, attraction became love, love became hurt, hurt morphed into hate, and with hate came anger, anger became denial, denial lead to avoidance, and avoidance lead to…curiosity? Wow, her thought process was majorly fucked.

"I don't know. Just…somewhere, away from Yale." He gestured toward the hall doors with his left hand. "C-come take a drive with me, anywhere, wherever, it doesn't matter."

"Are you crazy?" He might as well have said he loved her. _Oops, too late._

"Probably. Do it. Come with me. For an hour, tops. Just…" He suddenly clenched his teeth and balled his hands into tight fists.

Rory turned and unlocked her door, pushing forcefully into her room with a disgusted shake of her head. "What are you even-" she started but he was in front of her, leaning closer than she would have liked.

"Ride with me. We can go wherever you want, I just wanna talk to you." He stared hard at her, tilting his head to catch her eye. "An hour, that's it. Whatever else happens, happens, but I just need…" He leaned away from her and turned his hard sharply.

"To talk." She finished with a sigh. It was a few minutes before she spoke. "One hour." She said sternly, not meeting his eyes.

"Okay." He said quietly. He stood by her awkwardly for a moment; the only sound resonating in the room was their tense breathing. He nodded his once before walking out of the room. As he walked down the hallway he turned his head slightly to ensure she was following. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring at the ground while chewing the inside of her cheek. He turned back around and let out a slow breath.

As he pushed through the doors he stood on the other side and held it for her while facing away. When she was through he released it and began walking to the left. He glanced at her and saw her moving towards the right so he gently reached his hand out and grabbed her elbow. She tensed and looked at him stonily. "I parked over here." He nodded his head to the left and dropped her arm. He turned around without waiting for a response. As he started walking he heard a soft 'oh' behind him.

She looked at his back as he walked. He looked thinner. It didn't appear to be a significant amount, but her eyes and hands had wandered across his torso enough times to notice a change. His walk was much the same, perhaps a little less swagger to it. It was odd, he appeared calmer, somewhat matured, but at the same time, filled with anxiety and doubt. He sure wasn't the smooth talker he once was. Or at least, the non-existent talker. _Best to keep those bitter thoughts to a minimum_, she thought wryly.

If it were a year ago she would have laughed at his hair. Probably mentioning something about it being 'Dean-esque', what with its almost non-existent cut and long limp style. 'Parted in the middle too' she would have quipped, giving him a devilish grin. He would have grumbled and glared at her with a scowl, utterly disturbed to be compared to Farmer John in _any_ way, shape, or form. She would have laughed even more and maybe he would have kissed her if it were a good day. She would have run her hands through it, smiling against his mouth.

But it wasn't a year ago and she couldn't even begin to smile.

When they reached his car he wordlessly climbed into the driver's seat and sat with his hands on the wheel. She took her time climbing into the passenger seat, telling herself the hour began once her legs hit vinyl. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

She looked around the car. It looked unchanged, save for a few take-out wrappers on the dashboard. 'You should move those. They can make it hard to see out the windshield when it's sunny.' She wanted to say it but kept her mouth shut. His safety wasn't her concern anymore.

It was silent as they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. She wanted to turn on the radio but didn't think it would be appropriate. After all, it wasn't her car and she wasn't his girlfriend anymore, the one thing that had entitled her partial radio rights in the first place. Oh, and that one other pesky thing. They were supposed to _talk_.

She slouched in her seat and pulled her knees up slightly so they rested against the glove compartment. She glanced to her left and saw him looking at her. She quickly dropped her feet to the mat and straightened up a bit, looking out the window. Her nostalgic pose coupled with his all too familiar stare had reminded her of things she'd rather forget, when riding in a car with him was a simple means of transportation for their seldom had 'dates' which usually ended in heavy kisses and experimental touches across the center console. She bit her lip and watched the trees go by.

He watched her settle into a relaxed position, slouching down and molding her back into the slightly tattered black vinyl. Her knees rested on the glove compartment and her hands lay in her lap, absentmindedly twisting the hem of her shirt. When she glanced at him he held his gaze, too far past giving a fuck to care if she caught him staring or not. She'd immediately shifted, dropping her feet and sitting taut against the seat, intensely staring out the passenger window. He looked away from her then and let out a sigh. He unzipped his jacket and pulled at the collar of his white shirt, feeling hot and stifled.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked. He cleared his throat afterwards, trying to fill the awkward silence.

"Doesn't matter." She replied casually, shrugging one shoulder. She looked out the front window and squinted. She tilted her head slightly from side to side, back and forth, and watched as the tail lights of each passing car stretched out in thin lines of red and danced against the night.

Jess looked at her lazily rolling her neck from side to side. He knew what she was doing. She'd explained this to him one of their first nights together. She said she'd started doing it as a child, by accident really. When her mother would drive them back from Hartford after they'd attended one of her grandmother's mandatory holiday parties she would drift in and out of consciousness in the Jeep passenger seat. Her head would roll and her eyes wide drift open and shut. She'd noticed that the smaller her eyes got, the larger the lights grew, stretching far into the sky. So she'd experimented, squinting her eyes in different ways and watching as the lines grew, pivoting back and forth with each movement of her head. She said it felt like they were dancing, a private show, just for her.

He cracked his window and lit a cigarette, inhaling slowly and flicking the ash off periodically. "Do you just wanna drive around or actually stop somewhere?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question? After all, you're the one who wanted to leave." She said icily while crossing her arms over her stomach. The double entendre wasn't lost on him.

"Are you hungry?" He asked nonchalantly, flicking the end of his cigarette.

"I didn't come out here to eat." She said with frustration while casting him a sidelong glare.

"That doesn't answer my question." He took one last drag before tossing his cigarette out the window. He opened the left side of his mouth to let the smoke drift out in a stream. He quickly opened the window a little wider to let some air circulate through the car and blow out any lingering smoke before rolling it back up. He knew Rory really hated the smell, she only tolerated it because it was a part of him.

"No, I'm not." She answered curtly. Her stomach gave a funny little jab as she remembered whom she had in fact had dinner with. She didn't want to think about that now.

"I guess we should just park then." He ran a hand down his face and sighed.

"Doesn't that defeat the entire purpose of driving? If we were just going to sit, we could have stayed at my dorm."

"Well, what the fuck do you want me to do Rory?" He squeezed the wheel and ground his teeth. "You won't give me a straightforward answer."

"Frustrating, isn't it?" She asked in a falsely sweet voice.

He swallowed hard. She'd obviously been working on her offense.

He saw an abandoned gas station and quickly turned into it, ignoring the large 'No Trespassing' signs. He drove until he was at the back of the lot and parked next to a chain link fence separating the cement from the grass.

He let the car idle a moment before he turned the key, killing the engine. He leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes.

"So did we just come here to sit in the dark listening to one another breathe? Or was there actually a point to this 'Crossroads' reenactment?"

"I can't believe you just referenced a movie starring Britney Spears."

"That is so not the point."

"Bet Kate Hudson's looking pretty good right about now."

"Jess, stop."

He opened his eyes at her forceful tone and saw that she was glaring at him furiously. Oh shit.

"I didn't agree to this so you could sit there and waste my time. If this is how you're going to act then you might as well take me back right now because this is ridiculous."

"I'm sorry." He stuttered out.

"Don't say things you don't mean. Or that you think I want to hear."

"I'm not." He turned in his seat and caught her eyes. "I didn't come out here to be an ass."

"Could've fooled me."

"Okay, could you stop with the bullshit? If you don't want me to waste your time then don't waste mine either." He gave her a pointed look and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I'll keep my comments to a minimum." She pulled her legs into a pretzel and turned in the seat so that she was directly facing him. It was somewhat tight and uncomfortable, but she could manage. She saw him glance down toward her lap and that's when she remembered she was wearing a skirt. She yanked on the fabric, trying to stretch it as far over her legs as possible. "Real mature, Bender."

"It was an accident, Claire."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes for the second time but kept a firm hold on her skirt.

"I am sorry. For everything." He ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean for things to turn out this way."

"Oh, could you be a little more vague? I almost understood exactly what you were referring to." She said with scathing sarcasm.

"Us." Ah, _that_.

"There is no 'us'." She looked down at her hands, unable to meet his eyes.

"You think I don't know that?" His tone came out harsh and he immediately sighed in exasperation. "I'm not trying to sound so…"

"I get it." She said softly. Of course she got it. It was hurting her just as badly. "Where did you go?" She blurted out.

"California." He answered after a moment of hesitation. "I lived with my dad for a couple months."

"Oh." She said. "I didn't know you guys were that close." There was that _oh-so-sweet_ bitter tone again.

"We weren't." He said with a humorless chuckle. "He uh…he showed up the day of Fran's funeral." He shook his head at the memory. "It was the first time I'd seen him."

Rory looked at the dashboard. She couldn't imagine having never met her father. It wasn't as if the times she'd had with him were all peachy keen but still…it was something.

"Was it just him?" She asked quietly.

"No, he lived with his girlfriend, Sasha. She was cool, I guess. Kinda eccentric in a 'collect random knick-knacks' sort of way but it was tolerable. And uh, there was her daughter, Lily. Also kind of eccentric but more in the 'you' sort of way." He glanced up and saw her puzzled expression. "Total bookworm. She had a thing for reading in closets."

"I never read in closets." She said defensively.

"You read in bathrooms, close enough."

"What else am I supposed to do while the shower is warming up?" Her cheeks were tinged pink as she played with her nails.

"Wait for it like a normal person?"

"That's so unoriginal."

"And you're such a trendsetter." It was silent for a moment as they both struggled with what to say next.

"You said it was only for a couple months." She stated factually. "You've been gone for more than a year."

"It was about six months. After that I just kind of moved around for a while, working my way back to the East Coast. Made it back to New York about five months ago. I live in this cramped apartment with a few other guys. It's not much, but the rent is manageable." He pulled out another cigarette and lit it. He blew out a smoke ring and watched as it slowly dispersed into a shapeless cloud.

"Where do you work?" She asked casually.

"Messenger." He said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his pager, waving it slightly as evidence of his honesty. "I've been looking for something that pays more but there aren't many options."

"Right." She picked at a thread on her skirt. "So, that accounts for ten months. That doesn't really explain what you've been doing the other five since you've been back."

"Well like I said, the messenger thing and the apartment. That took up about two months, you know, just finding a steady job and a place to live. Other than that there isn't much to tell."

"Is there a reason you've broken the five months into segments of two and three?" She asked curiously.

He cleared his throat and stared out the windshield. "The last time I was here was three months ago."

"Oh." Her mouth formed a small circle, which she held in place for a moment before letting her face slide into a stoic expression.

"Yeah, well." He took a much longer drag of his cigarette before stamping it out in the car ashtray. He didn't really feel like talking anymore.

"Did you mean it?" She asked in a whisper.

He pursed his lips and nodded tensely.

"Okay." She said quietly. She glanced up at him and stared at his face unabashedly.

Well that was a start. It wasn't a reciprocation but it wasn't a 'get the fuck away from me you flighty bastard' either. Maybe he could work with this.

The car filled with an unbearable silence. Rory shifted in the seat and her partially bare legs scratched against the torn vinyl. She glanced down at her watch. "It's been an hour."

He nodded wordlessly before turning in his seat and starting the car.

Five minutes down the road Rory unhesitatingly reached over and flipped on the radio. Jess didn't protest.

Back in the Yale parking lot she stood a few feet in front of him as he leaned against the driver's side door. He had one leg crossed over the other and his hands shoved in his jacket pockets.

"I should go." She said, gesturing with her thumb towards the nearly vacant school buildings.

"Okay." He nodded.

"Going back to New York I assume?" She blinked quickly.

"Gotta get back to work." He mumbled.

"Right." She shifted her stance, jutting her hip to the side as she rested her weight on her right leg.

He suddenly chuckled dryly. "This isn't exactly how I'd pictured our night would end."

Despite her best efforts, her heard beat a little faster. "What did you picture?"

"You wouldn't want to know." He shook his head.

She narrowed her eyes at him with a scoff.

He rolled his eyes at her. "You know, contrary to popular belief, not all men are pigs."

"Well then Cosmo certainly needs to change their image campaign."

He held up his hands. "No one's forcing you to read that trash."

"Point taken." She shuffled her feet. "So…"

"I thought you were leaving." He couldn't help but smirk a little.

"I could say the same." She threw him a somewhat playful glare.

Instead of answering he just turned around with a sigh and placed his hand on the door handle.

"Wait." He heard her say. He turned slowly and looked at her carefully.

"I don't…I don't want this to be the last time I ever see you." She was staring at him with a pained expression.

"Then it won't be." He said smoothly.

"Who are you, Miss Cleo?" She asked irritably.

"No. Things just seem to have a way of working themselves out." He said sagely with a casual shrug.

"How very philosophical of you." She gave him an odd look, trying to gauge how serious he was being.

"Or, you know, _people_ have a way of working them out." He said it slowly with a husky voice. He was looking down at his feet but raised his face slightly, looking at her through his eyelashes.

They stared at each other openly, neither moving closer or farther away.

Rory swallowed hard before speaking. "I haven't forgiven you."

"I didn't expect you to."

"I still don't trust you."

"Maybe that will change." He leaned away from his car and took a step toward her.

"You live over two hours away." She folded her arms.

"They invented this new thing called a telephone…"

"Really? I didn't think you'd gotten that memo." She narrowed her eyes at him. "'Cause you've never used it before."

"Well I hear it works much better under circumstances like these." He was looking at her warmly.

"And what circumstances are those?"

"It's where I try this new thing called _not_ being a self-absorbed asshole."

"Sounds like a good start." She grinned softly.

"So…I'll call you?" He asked gently. Rory could hear the hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"Yeah…you'll call me."

He smirked playfully but there was a hint of a smile in his eyes. He stepped closer and for a moment Rory thought he might kiss her. Oh god.

Instead he took her wrist gently between his fingers and turned it palm up, depositing a small scrap of paper into it. He pushed her hand closed around it and gave her fist a light squeeze before letting go.

"Bye Rory." He said quietly before getting into his car. He looked at her through the closed window and saw her mouth 'Bye Jess' before he drove out of the parking lot.

Rory stayed in the same spot until his car was completely out of sight. Once he was gone, she unclenched her fist and looked down at the scrap of paper.

'_240-865-5321…I still don't believe in them'_

She grinned. How responsible. He had a cell phone.

If Emily Gilmore could see him now…

* * *

**Thank you so so so much for reading. Please let me know what you think, criticism, you hate it, whatever. Just let me know in a review. Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, chapter two for ya. Most of the story line is taken from Raincoats and Recipes, a little bit of the dialogue too, but I've added mostly my own dialogue and changed a bit of the story line. I hope you enjoy it and I would really, really appreciate if you took just one minute to say 'liked it' or anything like that haha. Let me know if I should continue. Anyway, thank you sooo much for reading and _please review!_**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls.

**Chapter: 2**

"What did he want?" Lane stared at her with wide-eyes, completely attentive and captivated.

"He wanted me to come take a ride with him." Rory said somewhat awkwardly, her nose scrunching in a confused manner.

"Oh my God! Did you do it?" Lane munched on a chip, her eyes never once leaving Rory's face.

"Yes." Rory shook her head with a disbelieving scoff, astonished at her own confirmation.

"Yes? You said yes? Okay, you can not just drop a bomb like that and then not painstakingly divulge every last miniscule detail!" Lane's mouth hung open as she stared at her best friend in shock.

"It was so…bizarre. I mean, at first, I was so upset. He bailed on me twice, you know?" Rory huffed in indignation. "And we were driving around and Jess was being Jess and for a while I just wanted to rip his head off."

"That's understandable." Lane said with a solemn nod.

Rory paused thoughtfully before continuing quietly. "We kind of had it out for a few minutes, just throwing around insults, but eventually things calmed down and we actually talked for once and…I don't know, it wasn't too bad I guess." She concluded with a sigh, staring down at her lap.

"So what…are you guys, like, back together now or something?" Lane asked slowly.

Rory scoffed incredulously. "No. Definitely not."

"Are you still hating each other?" Lane asked confusedly.

"No, not that either." Rory sighed in frustration. "I don't even know what we are or what we're doing or what I'm doing or…it's just all so…confusing." She huffed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Sounds like you're not over it…or him." Lane said gently with a sympathetic look for her friend's disgruntled expression.

"I thought I was." Rory replied quietly. "I should be. This is so…" She stood up and paced the room irately. "He just disappears and then suddenly deigns to show up whenever he feels like it's most convenient for him, not even caring that he's wrecking everything that I've built for the past year." She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the wall, resting her head against it with a dull thud.

Lane looked at her pensively, watching Rory's face contort into an array of emotions before settling on a blank stare. "Chip for your thoughts?" She stood and extended a Pringle to her.

Rory took it silently and munched on the end absentmindedly. She took another moment to gather her thoughts before starting. "When I first met Jess, I thought, 'What could be better than this? He's smart, good taste in books and music, so cute.' But Jess is great one minute and then the next…" She trailed off and bit off a larger portion of her chip. She swallowed tensely before consuming the other half.

"It's part of why he's cute. He's unpredictable." Lane said definitively while she handed Rory another chip.

"I guess." She said with a sigh. "But I'm tired of unpredictable. I'm tired of not knowing what he's feeling or thinking. It was cute for a while, and I do still love his spontaneity, but I can't deal with that all the time. I can't handle not knowing what his next move is going to be or where I fit into his life. Unpredictability is cute for the little things, but in the long run…"

"Well, I think you do know how he feels about you. At least you have that." Lane said quietly.

"Yeah. I have that." Her heart palpitated uneasily as she recalled his words from three months ago.

After a moment Lane hesitantly asked, "So you're saying there's no change? He's exactly the same?"

Rory thought it over for a moment. No, he wasn't exactly the same. After all, he had opened up to her, albeit a small amount, but still…it was different. "No, I think he's a little different. He told me where he'd been for the last year."

"And you choose to tell me this now?" Lane asked excitedly, pulling Rory back to the couch.

"He was in California with his dad."

"Woah, wasn't expecting that one." Lane blinked a few times. "I didn't even think he knew his dad." She said hesitantly.

"He didn't. I guess he just…showed up one day at the diner." Rory shrugged.

"Wow. So he's been there for a whole year?"

"No, only for a couple months. He's back in New York now."

"Well that's definitely a lot closer than California." Rory shot her a scathing look that said 'don't go there' but Lane ignored her. "What? I'm just being practical here. In the off chance that you guys do get back together-"

"Very off chance." Rory interrupted petulantly.

"Then," Lane carried on in an exaggerated tone, overriding Rory's declaration. "I think you'd much rather he was only two hours away as opposed to two days."

"Well it doesn't matter how far away he is because we're not back together."

"Oh, so you're not even considering the possibility?" Lane arched an eyebrow and gave her an incredulous look.

"No." Rory answered unconvincingly. She hesitated before conceding. "Okay, maybe a little. A very little." She emphasized her last words at Lane's devilish grin.

"Uh huh." Lane said in a 'yeah right' kind of manner.

"Besides, I don't even know when the next time I'll see him will be." Rory said defensively.

"You expect me to believe you spent two hours with your quasi-ex/possible-future-boyfriend and didn't acquire one single way of contacting him?"

"He is not my possible-future-boyfriend." Lane's penetrating stare forced her to crack. "Okay, I may have gotten his phone number." She mumbled discontentedly.

"Have you called him?"

"No, it's only been a few days. And even if I did call I would have no idea what to say. 'Hey, thanks for that great chat about your entire year spent _not_ with me. I guess it really sucks how you live over two hours away and we're _never ever_ going to see each other. But we can still make it work right?'" Rory continued sarcastically. "'Oh yeah, and that other thing where you bailed on me twice and I'm still really mad at you and haven't forgiven you, that's just the icing on the cake.'"

"Rory." Lane said with a dry chuckle. "Don't you think you're being a little unfair? I mean, you said he changed right? Well maybe you should give it some time. One tiny conversation isn't going to automatically give you guys a clean slate. If that's even possible."

"I know." Rory grumbled childishly. "I'm just so confused. One minute I want to kiss him and the next I want to shove his head in a toilet."

"Ew, swirly. Very unpleasant." Lane's face puckered.

"I'll give it time." Rory said with a nod.

"And whatever you do, don't blow up at him on the phone." Lane pointed a finger at her. "You can't lose your head or you guys will never work anything out."

"Believe me, I know." Rory said sarcastically.

It was quiet for a moment; both wrapped in their own thoughts before Lane's mind suddenly stopped on something very peculiar. "Hey what's up with you and Dean lately?"

Rory's stomach felt like it had dropped out. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it just seems like you guys have gotten very buddy-buddy lately." Lane eyed her apprehensively. "You haven't been thinking…"

"I don't know." Rory groaned and dropped her head into her hands.

"Wow." Rory could hear Lane's dumbstruck tone. "Your life has suddenly reached soap opera levels of boy crazy."

"Seems like I've been here before." Rory said bitterly, lifting her head out of her hands.

"I am getting a sense of déjà vu." Lane nodded. "But it was never this intense."

"He's married Lane." Rory mumbled.

"I know." She agreed solemnly.

"One's married and the other is flaky and lives over two hours away." Rory dropped her head back onto the couch. "I hate soap operas."

"They are the Marlon Jackson of daytime television." Lane looked at Rory thoughtfully. "You do realize out of those two scenarios that only one is a real possibility…right?"

Rory looked down at her hands, too ashamed to meet her friend's eyes. "Yeah, I do. It's just that lately…it seems like I've been smudging that line a bit." She swallowed tensely. "It's so easy to fall back into everything. With Dean everything was so…safe. He was so nice to me. I think I really messed that up, you know? I didn't appreciate it."

"Dean was very dependable." Lane agreed but she couldn't subdue the uneasy feeling in her stomach. "But like you said, he's married. Off the market. And, easily falling back into a guy that was safe and dependable…that doesn't really sound like…"

"Anything." Rory agreed tiredly. "It just felt good, being noticed and thought of. Feeling loved. That's not anything to base a relationship off of but it's still nice." She stared at the wall with an anxious expression. "Comforting. And with this past year at Yale…"

"I guess you've needed that." Lane concluded.

"Yeah." Rory bit her lip.

"So what are we pursuing? Have we reached a consensus?" Lane asked.

Rory pursed her lips in thought. "Well I guess it's pretty obvious that the Dean ship has sailed. I just need to move past that feeling."

"And the Jess ship?"

"I think the crew has scurvy." Rory mumbled miserably.

Lane giggled uncontrollably. "What does that even mean?"

"It means…it's not okay now…but maybe with some time-"

"And fruit." Lane blurted.

"And fruit," Rory cracked a smile, "we'll be able to breathe the same air without drudging up the past."

"So it's more of a rowboat?"

"With only two crew members. Rowing from Connecticut to England."

Lane nodded with a pensive expression. "How long do you think it takes to get from Connecticut to England in a rowboat?"

"I'm guessing a while. Especially if the crew is rowing in opposite directions." Rory said with a sigh.

"Okay, this conversation is getting way too metaphorical." Lane said with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah." Rory agreed with a frown.

"Just so we're clear…the Dean thing really has blown over? You can tell me, you know. If you're still thinking about it." Lane eyed her carefully.

"I think it has. I just really missed that feeling. I can't say that I'm one hundred percent sure it's over until I see him…but I don't think I want to pursue anything. I'd rather not be labeled a home wrecker if you don't mind."

"The day you're labeled a home wrecker is the day I tell Mama Kim I've converted to Satanism."

* * *

Rory climbed the stairs to the Dragonfly Inn slowly. Looking up, her stomach immediately felt unsettled. She figured now was as good a time as any to do this.

"Hi." She said to Dean quietly. He placed a very heavy looking wooden door on the floor.

Breathing heavily he responded curtly. "Hey." He shifted uncomfortably, his eyes avoiding hers at all costs. "I have to get this upstairs."

"Can't we talk?" She asked a little desperately.

"What about?" He asked snippily.

"The other night." She replied quietly.

"Whatever. I don't care." He shuffled like he was about to pick the door up again so she scrambled for something to say.

"Why are you so mad?"

"I'm not mad. I'm working." He responded unconvincingly.

"I left you three messages. You didn't answer any of them. You blew me off at Luke's today. You won't look me in the eye."

"I have to go." He said with a disgruntled sigh.

"Why won't you just talk to me?" She said in exasperation.

"Because you told me to leave Rory!" His voice sounded hurt.

"I had to." She looked at the floor, not ready to reveal everything that had transpired after his departure. That would officially be the end of any potential future they had. Oh, who was she kidding? _What future?_

"Why did you _have_ to?" He asked with a sneer.

"I needed to talk to him about some things." She shook her head and looked back up.

"Right. Did you tell him to leave too?" He asked with bitter sarcasm, grinding his teeth as he clenched his jaw.

Rory bit her lip and looked at the wall. She blew out a slow breath before whispering, "Not exactly."

"What does that even-" He stopped suddenly and his fists clenched in disbelief. "You're back with him aren't you?" He laughed humorlessly.

"No, I'm not back with him."

"Then what the hell is this Rory? You didn't tell him to leave, but you're not with him, so what is this?" He gestured widely with his hands, clearly fed up with her vague responses.

"I don't know okay?" She said huffily, growing irritated by his 'victim' persona. "We just talked for a few hours, that's it. Then he went back to New York. I haven't heard from him since Saturday."

"I don't like him." Dean blurted suddenly.

"I know." She said with a confused expression.

"And I…I don't want you to be with him." He looked at her intensely.

She licked her lips uneasily. "Dean you're married." She said quietly. He leaned forward and her heart beat increased rapidly, slamming against her ribs. Her bottom lip dangled helplessly as she froze in place. Just as he was an inch from her face she stuttered out, "D-don't."

He stepped back as though he'd been slapped and looked at her with burning eyes. Whether from lust or fury she couldn't be sure.

Without another word she quickly turned away from him and bounded down the stairs before shakily bursting onto the porch.

* * *

Rory flipped through her CD collection absentmindedly. She was staring at a small scrap of paper on her nightstand, focusing to the point where all the numbers blurred into a mass of gray. She shook her head and sighed, trying to place her attention back on the music selection.

Feeling her phone vibrate against her thigh she grumbled at the new distraction before withdrawing it from her pocket. "Hello?"

"Hey."

Her eyes widened and her breath stopped short. She held the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen.

"Hello?" He repeated uneasily. "Rory?"

She held the phone back up to her ear and breathed deeply. "I think I might be telepathic."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"I have been staring at that stupid scrap of paper for ten minutes now and the moment I finally look away to get some work done is the moment you decide to call."

"Wouldn't that be telekinesis?"

"I don't know." She replied in aggravation. "All I know is that it has to do with the mind, it's some kind of sixth sense, and I have it."

"Bruce Willis would be proud."

"They should give me an Oscar." She sighed and began flipping through her CD's again, supporting the phone with her shoulder.

"So what's up?" He asked slowly.

"Nothing much. Just grabbing some music."

"For?" He lay back against his mattress, folding one arm behind his head.

"The Dragonfly Inn's official test run." She said in a falsely serious voice.

"Oh yeah, Luke mentioned something about that. How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Everyone gets to follow their own personal door to their room." She picked up a David Bowie CD and added it to her growing collection.

"I'd take a nice piece of oak over the mini bar any day."

"I think its cedar."

"Well in that case." He smirked momentarily as the conversation lulled.

"So, what about you? Traipsing about the city I suppose?"

"There's not much to traipse when you've lived here for sixteen years."

"Humor me." She deadpanned.

"Well, yesterday I toured the Statue of Liberty for the first time. Absolutely mind blowing. And today I was thinking about going to Times Square but I couldn't make it. Man, was I bummed." He replied sarcastically but smiled when he was rewarded with her stifled giggle.

"I cannot picture you taking a tour of anything, much less the Statue of Liberty. Did you get a souvenir torch?" She asked teasingly.

"They were all out." He replied dryly before picking up on her first train of thought. "But luckily you'll never have to. I toured it when I was five."

"Field trip?" She asked knowingly.

"First one." He replied with a nod.

"Hmm." She mumbled thoughtfully. "Are there pictures?"

"It's doubtful." He replied cryptically.

"Meaning?"

"I torched 'em when I was eleven."

"Jess!" She exclaimed in disbelief. "That is so typical. Am I the only one who _hasn't _burned their baby pictures?"

"Doesn't mean you haven't wanted to." He said pointedly. "You were probably too afraid of getting caught."

She blushed at her predictability and the fact that he could easily recognize it. "I happened to be an adorable baby."

"I've seen proof." He grinned lopsidedly as he heard her splutter.

"I can't believe my mom even showed you those. She hates you." She stated factually, knowing he wouldn't take offense.

"Apparently not as much as she hates you. She practically pulled 'em out the minute my foot hit the hardwood."

"Hmm, you've got me on that one."

He snorted. "Please, Lorelai could never pass up an opportunity to brag about her angel child."

"True."

"The opportunities are so few and far between, she's really gotta seize the moment." He replied sarcastically.

"It's become her life's work." She said with a mocking sigh. A moment later she heard a loud rap against the kitchen door.

"Door?" Jess asked as he heard the insistent tapping.

"Yeah, could you hold on for a sec.?"

"Sure."

Rory held the phone against her chest as she opened the door.

"Dean. How'd you know I was here?" She blinked rapidly trying to recover from her shock.

Jess's jaw tensed considerably as he heard the muffled name pass through the speaker.

* * *

**This story probably feels like it's going at a snails pace, but I want to make it very realistic, so it might stay that way haha. I don't want to rush anything between the two of them. Anyway, thank you so much for reading and _please review!_**


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